One Cool Lunch

I often get asked about my daughter's lunches. So I started a blog to share ideas, tips, tricks and even the fails! and to share all things lunch and parenting related. Hope you are inspired to start a new healthy cool lunch tradition with your kids!

Monday, November 5, 2012

I was was recently asked by Moms Meet to review the new Chocolate Soft baked Squares from Kashi. Kashi is already a brand we enjoy and I was excited to try a new product and learn more about the company.

What I like about Kashi is that they they use whole grains and healthier ingredients than you typically find in similar products.The Chocolate Squares are made with 7 whole grains, sweet potatoes and beans!! They also do not use high fructose corn syrup but instead use agave to add sweetness. To learn more about how Kashi chooses the ingredients for their products head on over to their website you can also find great recipes their too!

Now, I won't lie to you, my daughter was not a fan of these bars :( I think the main issue for her was that they look like a brownie but they aren't of course! She just couldn't get past that and was expecting a really sweet chocolaty taste which these bars do not have. I shared them with a friends children and they gobbled them up. So it really depends on your child. I thought they were okay. I enjoyed them most when I topped them with some vanilla fro-yo for a "healthier" dessert option. My husband said they were okay.

We are however fans of lots of other Kashi products. Some of our faves are the banana chocolate chip bars, the cinnamon harvest cereal and ALL the cookies,lol. Kashi is easily found in almost every grocery store so no need to go to a specialty store to try and find their products.

Kashi wants one lucky winner to try some products for free and they are even throwing in a Kashi lunch tote as well!! Contest ends Nov 12th. Open to US residents only please!

Disclaimer: I received this product for free from the sponsor of the Moms MeetSM program, May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms MeetSM blogger, I agreed
to use this product and post my opinion on my blog. My opinions do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of May Media Group LLC or the
manufacturer of the product.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Today instead of talking about what I did to the outside of the sandwich and the "cute" factor, I am going to discuss what I put inside my sandwiches. For the past year I have posted about ideas, lunchboxes, picks,etc.. But I rarely discuss what I actually made the sandwich or wrap with. Mostly this is because you come to my blog for ideas on cute lunches and not on how to make a sandwich,lol. I figure you probably already know that ;)

I do love meat ( sorry my veggie friends) but I do not eat it daily and I am very conscious of where it came from. For my regular dinner type stuff like chicken or beef I use a local farmer who offers all natural hormone free meats and his animals are humanely treated. These things are important to me. But when it came to lunch meat it got trickier. I started looking around for something organic or all natural. I needed it to be free of nitrates,antibiotics and other artificial and unhealthy ingredients. And I wanted a company that believed in making sure that in the process the animals were being humanely raised. I found all of this in Applegate Organic and Natural meats.

Recently Moms Meet asked me if I'd be interested in reviewing Applegate products and of course I said YES!! While I was already using some of their products this gave me a great opportunity try more of them and learn more about the company. And I am so glad they allowed me to do it!

If you are worried about taste you shouldn't be!! In fact I found Applegate products to be tastier than their less than natural competitors and my daughter even notices when I use a different brand and she's never very happy about it,lol! I was also concerned that the selection wouldn't be great, but they offer many many choices, of meats, cheeses, hot dogs and more!! And I am finding many of my local stores are now carrying a wider variety of their products.

So next time you look at one of my lunches you will know that there is some tasty Applegate meat and cheese tucked inside :) Like in yesterday's Detroit Tigers lunch or the Frog from last week, we use Applegate often and you should try them too!

Would you like to try them for FREE??? Of course you would!! Thanks to Applegate and Moms Meet, 2 lucky winners will get to do just that! Contest is open to US residents only and ends October 23rd.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Here in Michigan the Detroit Tigers are kind of a big thing right now. They have made the playoffs and everyone in Tiger town is excited! Today at my daughter's school it was Tigers Day so of course a fitting lunch was needed ;)

I used food writers for the tiger sandwich. If you do not have food writers you should buy some, I use them for so many things!! They are definitely one of my must haves. The little tiger in the middle is from Wilton and was supposed to be a cake pop topper, but I knew they would look so cute in lunches! And the Detroit Tigers pick on the bottom was originally a cupcake topper from my local cake and candy store. If you have a cake and candy store near you, go and check it out. I get some great lunch stuff at mine.

I hope in a few weeks, I can come back and tell you the Tigers are World Series Champs. But come back tomorrow and I will be chatting about the lunch meat and cheeses I use in my sandwiches and how you can win some too!!

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Today is World Animal Day and to celebrate my Bento Blogger Friends and myself are all participating in a blog hop!! If you complete the entire loop you will see 37 different animal lunches, now that's cool!!

As you can see, my animal for the hop is a pig. I had some pink airbrush spray from some cupcakes that was just calling out to be used with my Cutezcute pig cutter. I think he's pretty stinking cute.

For the rest of the lunch I stuck to an animal theme as well. Animal crackers, a butterfly silicone liner for the grapes and a giraffe fork pick for the oranges.

Now it's time for you to hop along to the next animal. and let me just say that you will be AMAZED by the awesome penguin lunch at Biting the Hand That Feeds You and if you are a Hello Kitty fan (isn't everyone?) then you will love it even more!!! Don't forget to keep hopping until you end up back here!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Made my daughter a very simple lunch today in a Planetbox. I made the frog using my Cutezcute cutter that I absolutely love. If you only buy one cute cutter set, it should be this one! So easy to use and works perfect. Instead of putting the lettuce in the sandwich, I used it for the "lilypad" underneath. In the container is a pumpkin dip, you can find the recipe here. The pumpkin dip is a family favorite and makes a nice sweet treat for fall.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Thank you to everyone who entered the Momables giveaway. I am happy to announce that Nicole Ver Straten has won!! If you didn't win make sure you visit MOMables to get your subscription today. Also don't forget there is still time left to enter the Goodbyn Bynto Giveaway